A Malaysian mother has ignited a fiery online debate after alleging that her young daughter was physically abused by a teacher for forgetting to bring her exercise book home — a punishment that reportedly left the child’s hand swollen and bruised.
The incident, which came to light via a Facebook post on Monday (May 19), included a photo showing a prominent red welt across the upper palm of the student’s hand and noticeable swelling in the thumb.
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“My daughter, who is in primary school in the Kuantan district, got one spelling question wrong in a dictation test.
“She left her correction notebook at school and forgot to bring it home to fix the mistake. Because of this, the teacher hit her on her palm and fingers, which are now bruised and swollen,” she wrote.
“I’m wondering, is this really necessary? Does hitting really work better?
“Should education involve treating 8-9-year-old children like this? I often see other parents sharing about their kids being hit by teachers, and now my own child has experienced it too.
“She told me, ‘Mommy, it hurts a lot’. She also said many other students lined up and were hit too!
“When I asked the teacher, she said she only hit “a little bit”.
“Put yourself in my place — what would you do in this situation?” she asked.
The post quickly went viral, drawing mixed reactions from Malaysians across social media. Some netizens voiced outrage over the teacher’s actions, arguing that the punishment was excessive and harmful, especially for a child so young.
However, others took the teacher’s side, criticising the mother for what they saw as overreacting to a traditional disciplinary method.
“Kids nowadays are really lucky. Back in my day, I had three or four bruises like this, and my mom just told the teacher to educate me properly,” AC Hami commented.
“Who didn’t get hit when they were kids?” Haikal Akmal asked.
AQrh Yang shared: “Just report it to the police, don’t say anything else. The Social Welfare Department (JKM) and the police will handle it.
“When my son couldn’t understand math, his teacher hit him so hard that his hand swelled up. The teacher was very arrogant and even told me to report it if I wasn’t satisfied. So, I did report it.
The police told me that by law now, teachers are not allowed to hit children. They can only make them stand as punishment. No matter what kind of hitting it is, if the child gets hurt, the teacher is guilty.”
